The Eagles’ greatest hits album has moonwalked past Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” to become history’s best-selling album of all-time in the U.S.

The Recording Industry Association of America told The Associated Press on Monday that the Eagles’ album — “Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975” — is now certified 38x platinum, which means sales and streams of the album have reached 38 million copies.

In 1997, I missed the bus to school because I absolutely had to see the entire music video for Missy Elliott’s “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly).” I, of course, had no way of knowing that I was witnessing an artist — a future icon, really — who was going to completely shift how the world viewed music as an art form. At the time, I was enraptured by something I’d never seen before, and I was simply unwilling to pry my eyes away.

The fish-eyed lens. The cartoonish special effects. Costuming that appeared to be plucked from a delightfully fun future. Lyrics that exuded a bold confidence. With her first solo, career-solidifying music video, Missy Elliott became a certified force in an industry where women had to claw for the barest hint of recognition. Every hit record — “Sock It 2 Me,” “Hot Boyz,” “Get Ur Freak On,” “Gossip Folks,” “WTF (Where They From),” the list goes on — made it harder to relegate her to a single box.

To simply call Missy Elliott a rapper, even a devastatingly skilled one, ignores the fact that she is also a razor-sharp lyricist, singer, producer, dancer, and visionary. For over two decades, she’s built a legacy so rock solid that the name Missy Elliott has become synonymous with originality and brilliance.

Damon Albarn is apparently no fan of Kanye West. In a new interview with the French publication L’obs, the Gorillaz and Blur leader embarks on a bit of a tirade about Kanye, specifically his “abusive” creative relationship with Paul McCartney.

Although Albarn’s comments are a little jumbled after being translated from English to French and back, the tone and substance of the exchange are clear. After the interviewer brings up Kanye’s lengthy process of gathering samples for Pusha-T’s Daytona, Albarn responds, “I do not sample, I create music.” He then begins a tangent about Kanye’s relationship to McCartney: “Do not get me started on Kanye West … Kanye West trapped Paul McCartney.”

If you’ve been lucky enough to see Indecent or The Band’s Visit, you’d know there isn’t a performer on Broadway today who could match the sultry magnetism of Katrina Lenk, something that’s apparent even when she’s performing a part she’d never really get to play. At MCC Theater’s annual Miscast Gala, where Broadway performers get a chance to take on songs they’d never be cast to perform in their traditional context, Lenk brought the crowd to a standing ovation with her performance of Fiddler on the Roof’s “If I Were Rich Man,” complete with fiddle. The sheer variety of her giggles and laughs alone is something to behold.

The woman represents life, the butterfly represents a purpose, when he returns the butterfly his accomplishments are tallied and enumerated. If the butterfly comes back his post life will be stamped a celebration. If not.... 22-Jan-2018